Vitebsk marked the International Day of the Liberation of Prisoners of Nazi Concentration Camps

Vitebsk marked the International Day of the Liberation of Prisoners of Nazi Concentration Camps. A memorial rally was held at the "5th Regiment" memorial complex.

Representatives of work collectives, public organizations, students, and heads of the region and city laid wreaths and flowers at the monument.

During the Great Patriotic War, the site of the former 5th Railway Regiment housed Nazi Stalag No. 313, which operated from September 1941 to May 1944. The total number of those shot, who died from hunger and diseases, exceeds 100,000 people.

– 80 years separate us from the terrible events of the Great Patriotic War, – addressed the attendees Vyacheslav Durnov, Deputy Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee. – The names of death camps: Trostinets, Sobibor, Treblinka, Auschwitz, Majdanek, evoke grief and pain in our hearts. On April 11, 1945, prisoners of the Buchenwald concentration camp staged an uprising, regained their freedom, and in memory of this event, the International Day of the Liberation of Prisoners of Nazi Concentration Camps was established. Their victims included both the elderly and children, and it is important for our contemporaries to know the truth about those atrocities. Now that new data on the genocide of Belarusians during the war has emerged, we will be able to respond to the challenges of our time with arguments. Many documents related to the genocide case, initiated by the Prosecutor General's Office of Belarus, testify to the scale of the tragedy. A tense situation is developing in the world, we are experiencing the effects of the most modern hybrid warfare technologies. It is important for us to react promptly to the ongoing geopolitical processes. A separate topic is the children of war, – emphasized Vyacheslav Durnov. – Today, juvenile prisoners are the last living witnesses of brutal fascist terror. We bow our heads low to those who endured and withstood the most terrible trials. You have honorably lived your lives, making a significant contribution to the formation of modern independent Belarus.

Source: vitebsk-region.gov.by